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W,,J. 130m ).v Circular Knitting Machine; No 239,092. Patented M'arch'22,I88L

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(N0 Model.) 2Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. J. FORD.

Circular Knitting Machinm -No. 239.092; V Patented Marc -22,1881.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM J. FORD, CF FRIARS CAUSEWAY, LEICESTER, AND HUMBERSTONE COUNTY OF LEICESTER, ENGLAND.

CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 239,092, dated March 22, 1881. Application tiled July 20, 1880. (No model.) Patented in Great Britain December 12, 1878.

To all whom it may concern,

Be it known that I, WInLIAM JAMES FORD, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, re-

siding at Friars Causeway, Leicester, and at Humberstone, both in the county of Leicester,

England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Circular-Knitting Machines, to enable shaped hosiery to be made, (for which I have received Letters Patent in 10 England, No. 5,100, dated 12th December, 1878.) of which the followingis a-specifica'tion.

This invention has for its object improvements in circular-knitting machines, to enable shaped hosiery to be made. For this purpose I5 I combine, with an ordinary barb-needle (or, if

preferred, latch-needle) circular-knitting machine, either adapted to produce plain or tucked ribbed work, two sets of points, which can be brought up to and against some of the needles and caused to take off the loops of work from them and afterward place them onto other needles. There may be four, five, or other number of points in each set, andthe ends of the points are downward if the needles stand upward. The two blocks carrying the two sets of points can be moved uniformly by mechanism toward or away from one another along a curved course forming part of a circle, and can also be moved toward or away from the nee- 0 dles. The two sets of points are mounted at the side of the circle of needles, between the points at which work is knocked off and the point where thread is laid on. When plain unshaped work is being produced the machine 3 5 is worked in the ordinary manner. When a widening or narrowing is to be madethe rotation of the head carrying the needles is arrested and the head is brought to a fiXed position. Both sets of points are then, by the moving inward ot' a radial slide, moved toward the circle of needles to bring the points against the needles opposite to them. To insure that they shall come truly against the needles, there is a projection on the radial slide 5 which has to enter a corresponding recess in the needle-head when the slide is moved for- Ward. When the lower ends of the points have been brought against the stems of the needles below the beards the work on these nee- 5o dles is, by hand or otherwise, pressed downsion.

ward to bring the loops below the beards of the needles and below the ends of the points. The work is then again allowed to be drawn upward by the weighted cord or apparatus usually employed for keeping the work in ten- As the work rises, the points enter the loops of work on the needles, and the loops, as they come to the top of the needles, slip off from the needles and remain on 'the points only. The radial slide is then drawn or al- 6c lowed to move back, and it may be, in the act of doing so, that the two sets of points are moved toward or away from one another a distance of two or other number of needles. The radial slide is then again moved in\vartl,the work is depressed, and so the loops on the points are transferred to the needles against which the points have been brought. The radial slide is then allowed to move back, and the production of work on the circle of beedles goes on in the ordinary manner for any desired number of courses until a fresh narrowing or widening is required. There will thus be formed in the fabric two lines of narrowings or widenings wherever the article to yg be made requires to be shaped. These are subsequently to be sewed together at or near their edges, and the waste piece of fabric intermediate between them then cut away.

Havingthus described the nature of my ill-.150 vention, I will proceed to describe more fully the manner in which I perform the same.

Figure 1 of the drawings hereunto annexed shows a plan view of a circular-knitting machine having mechanism combined with it arranged to act in the manner above described. Fig. 2 is a front view of this mechanism 5 and Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the same, together with part of the needle-head. Fig. 4 shows, in detail, the notched disk of the spiu- 90 die and its engaging spring-catch.

In Fig. 1, Ais the circular revolving needlehead.

B is a circular are on the exterior of the needle-head-and fixed to the frame of the ma- 9 5 chine.

' CC are two curved slides, which can he slid toward or away from one another along the fixed circular are B. Each slide C is formed with rack-teeth upon its outer edge,as shown. :00

D D are two toothed pinions,which gear one with the teeth on one of the slides O, and the other with the teeth on the other of these slides. On the axis of each pinion D is a beveltoothed pinion, E.

F F are corresponding bevel-pinions, which gear with the bevel-pinions E. The pinions F are fast on a spindle, G, and when this spindle is turned they cause the pinions D to revolve in opposite directions, and so cause the slides O O to move uniformly toward or away from one another along the fixed are B. Each curved slide has mounted upon it a slide, H, which can be moved radially toward or away from the needle-head. Each radial slide H carries a set of points, I. To simultaneously move inward the two slides H, I use another slide, K, which can be moved radially toward or away from the needle-head. This slide carries a curved bar, L, which passes and fits between projections on the radial slides H. By

this .means, when the radial slide K is by hand pressed inward, the radial slides H are both caused to move inward and bring the points which theycarry up to and against the needles opposite to them. When the loops of work on these needles have been transferred onto the points in the manner hereinbefore described, and the sets of points have been moved away from one another a distance of two or other number of needles, by turning the spindle G by its handle to the required extent for effectin g the movement required, the points are again brought up to and against the needles and the loops of work on the points transferred to the needles in the manner before explained. The points are thenallowed to be moved back away from the needles by a spring, N, which tends constantly to press back the slide K. The amount of movement required to be given to the spindle each time that it is turned is known by springing out a spring-catch, in, from one of the notches on a disk, M, on the spindle and turning the spindle until the catch springs into the next notch.

In order that the slide K may not be moved projection, O. This projection is rigidly fastened to or formed with the slide.

When the needle-head is brought to rest inthe proper position for a narrowing to be made there is a recess, P, in the needle-head opposite the projection O, and the slide K can be pressed inward and a narrowing made; but if the needle-head has not been stopped in the proper position, the slide K cannot be moved inward, and no narrowing can be made. When the points have been brought against the needles, and the loops on the needles have been brought below the points, and then again raised to cause the points to enter the loops, it is preferable not to trust to the strainupon the work to lift the loops which the points have entered above the tops of the needles. I therefore employ a comb, R, to raise them, and insure that the loops which the points have entered, and which have been slipped past the beards of the needles, shall be lifted clear of the tops of the needles, and so freed from the needles. This comb can be kept raised until the sets of points have been shifted toward or away from one another, and have again been moved inward and brought against the needles. It will then serve as a support to the needles and hold them up to the points, so that when the work is again pressed down the loops on the points shall, without fail, be placed onto the needles that the points have been brought against.

In order to be able readily to raise or lower the comb R whenever required, the comb has descending from it a stem, S, with a fork, T, at its lower end. When the needle-head is stopped in the proper position for narrowing, this fork is in such a position that it embraces the end of a lever, U, as shown at Fig. 3. The opposite extremity of this lever is connected to a treadle, so that the attendant, by pressing his foot on the treadle, can then turn the lever and lift the comb.

Having thus described the nature of my invention and the manner of performin g the same, I would haveit understood that Iclaim- 1. The c'omhinatiominacircular-knitting machine, of a revolving needle-head, afixed arc, B, concentric with and outside of the needle-head, between the point atwhich the work is knocked off and the point where thread is laid onto the needles, two curved slides, O, movable toward or away from each other along said are, radial slides H, mounted on said movable curved slides and having the capacity of moving toward or away from the needle-head when its motion is arrested, and sets of points I, carried by said radial slides, one set by each, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

. 2. The combination of the circular revolving. needle-head, the fixed arc, the curved slides provided with rack-teeth, the radial slides,

pinions gearing with said rack-teeth, and the spindle connected by gearing with said pin-- ions, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

3. The combination of the circular revolving needle-head, the arc, the curved slides, the radial slides, and the slide K, provided with the curved bar, substantially as and for the pur-, pose hereinbefore set forth.

WILLIAM JAMES FORD. Witnesses JAS. SHARP HENoK,

Solicitor, Leicester. SAML. E. Lovnr'r,

Clerk to Messrs. Wright cf;

Hench, Solicitors, Leicester. 

